Yeah, Roy. You are probably correct. Since the event, I have had more
throat and sinus irritation. Thanks for the observation.

Bob Swinney
"RoyJ" wrote in message
k.net...
You probably were suffering the early effects, CO poisoning is VERY
sneaky. It's a good thing the cats faded out, they had more sense than the
owner. But a good reminder to NOT ignore good safety practice.

Robert Swinney wrote:

Recently, during a late night "tweaking" of connections between a boiler
and steam engine, I did a very stupid thing. Common safety practices of
adequate ventilation had been completely ignored when making a quick heat
to check new connections between boiler and engine. Surely, there
wouldn't be a dangerous build-up of CO2 with just a quick heat on solid
fuel. Wrong! Almost tragically, wrong!

About ten minutes into the project one of our cats was crying at the door
wanting to get out of the closed garage - he had more common sense than I
had. Shortly, he collapsed. I rushed to do whatever I could, totally
perplexed over what could have "poisoned" poor Wilbur. There seemed to
be nothing I could do to rescue him from the throes of Death. In the
midst of all this, I noticed that there was none of the usual verbiage
from the other kitty, "Noisy". Noisy had also collapsed, out of sight,
hidden under the lathe. Finally, it dawned on me - carbon monoxide from
the open fire under my boiler!!

Immediately, I opened the garage door and removed both lifeless kitties
into the fresh air. They were barely breathing, gasping in erratically
short bursts. What to do? They had to be oxygenated as quickly as
possible. I began giving them "mouth to mouth", alternating between
them. Slowly, their breathing seemed to improve - - but was I doing more
harm than good with my crude attempts at "mouth to mouth" ? Then, it
occurred to me I had oxygen on hand in my welding rig. At first it was
difficult to cup my hand over their faces while holding the torch, but
they seemed to be responding, albeit very slowly. By now, Judy was on
the scene with very practical assistance. She grabbed small funnel off
the shelf and suggested it would make a better oxygen mask than my cupped
hand. Viola!

The message here is: Don't fool around with common safely issues! Even
though I thought I knew what I was doing and no harm could come from a
very brief heat, I almost killed two cats. I felt no ill effects but
apparently cats are much more susceptible to CO2 poisoning than I am. On
the other hand, they may have saved my life! I will have to live with
that haunting thought and of how even a brief lapse in common-sense
safety practices can lead to tragedy.

Bob Swinney